EU to sanction 30 Iranian individuals: Luxembourg’s foreign minister

By Oliver Towfigh Nia

BERLIN (AA) - The EU will introduce a new sanctions package that will also include 30 Iranian individuals for their role in the security clampdown in Iran, Luxembourg's foreign minister said on Monday.

Speaking to the media ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Jean Asselborn said that among the individuals are members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

"Today Iran is going to a dictatorship, military dictatorship. 80 million people live in Iran and I think 90 percent of the people live in a very bad situation," he said.

Iran has been rocked by deadly protests since mid-September after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by the country's morality police for allegedly violating the Islamic dress code.

"We cannot change the world by sanctions alone. That is clear but it is all we have,” Asselborn said.

Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the new EU sanctions should be regarded as a clear signal to the government in Tehran for its brutal security crackdown on pro-freedom protesters.

"We are sending a new and unmistakable signal to the Iranian regime: human rights are indivisible," said Baerbock earlier in the day in Brussels.

The minister said new sanctions target particularly the inner circle of power of the Revolutionary Guards and the structures that finance them.

“We are also working on further measures. It's not just about reading out political declarations. In order for the sanctions to be legally secure, an intensive examination is necessary,” said Baerbock, adding the legal situation was “extremely complicated.”

She also emphasized how important it is that Germany, along with 16 other countries, has put the situation in Iran on the agenda of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

A meeting of the UN Human Rights Council is scheduled to take place during the week starting Nov. 21.

The council's 47 member countries cannot impose sanctions but can adopt a resolution condemning the violence and set in motion a mechanism to investigate the situation more closely.